NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Wants HGH Tests for Players This Year

NFL players will be tested for human growth hormone this season, if NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell gets his way.

The NFL players’ union and the league agreed to the testing as part of the new collective bargaining agreement made this off-season. The random, league-wide testing for the potentially performance-enhancing substance was supposed to have already begun, but the union and the league have not been able to agree on a method of testing.

We’re ready to go,” Goodell said. “I think the science is proven. It’s a valid test and we’re hoping that we’ll get the green light from the union…”

“It’s written in the CBA that we’re committed to do it by the regular season. So it’s in there. You can read it.”

The blood test proposed by the league can detect the presence of HGH for up to three days after its use. The union has called the reliability and safety of the tests into question. A new test, not yet certified by the World Anti-Doping Agency, can detect the substance up to three weeks afterward.

Under the agreement, players caught using the banned substance would be subject to suspensions and fines.